Consumers talk about your brand on social networks. You listen to these conversations in real-time and because of what you hear you adapt, you respond, and you provide better CRM. Based off this premise, Gerardo Dada, senior director of product marketing with social commerce solutions provider Bazaarvoice, begs an interesting question: How do you tap into user profiles on social networks to make customers become advocates for your product? "For these conversations to be meaningful," Dada says, "you must drive [consumers] back to your Web site."

He's right: What good is having quality CRM if you have no customers? In order to meet thisneed, Bazaarvoice recently released SocialConnect Suite, a product geared toward helping brands safely and effectively leverage the power and reach of leading social networks to drive measurable business results, according to the company's press release.

"This [product release] is an attempt to harness the data and benefit of social," says Sucharita Mulpuru, vice president and principal analyst with Forrester Research. "[This data] is [found] primarily on a retailer's own site versus through third party applications."

SocialConnect Suite offers many features geared toward bridging the social Web with brand Web sites. The product includes the following:

SocialConnect Sharing, whichenables shoppers to post consumer-generated content froma particular brand's Web site to their own personal social network profiles. Included under the umbrella of SocialConnect Sharing are:

Shout It!, an application thatallows consumers to easily publish most product information and user-generated feedback located on a brand's site to their personal pages on social networks. "With Shout It!," Dada says, "someone who is just a visitor to your site can easily share product information by clicking on the page," which will then send the information to Facebook, Twitter, or other social networks;

Publish It!, a feature thatmakes it easy for consumers to publish any piece of content they personally create on a brand's site to their own Facebook page. Brand experiences and information are immediately distributed to all the people in the user's social graph - in the context of the social relationship; and

Like It!, a capability that allows consumers to click on a "like" button on the brand's Web site and post a "like" announcement on their Facebook pages. Brands gain another way to draw consumers into the brand experience through friends discovering what other friends "like," according to the company press release. "IT departments are busy and don't have time to install "Like"; buttons," Dada contends.

Referencing a study done by digital consulting firm Syncapse Corp., Dada explains that for brands each Facebook fan is worth $136.38. The study, which included data collected from more than 4,000 panelists across North America in June 2010, claims that the dollar value for each fan could exceed $270.77. Thus, this simple button-click feature could mean a world of difference for businesses.

The SocialConnect Syndication capabilities allow marketers to leverage the power and reach of Twitter by engaging consumers with relevant content created by brand enthusiasts. A feature of SocialConnect Syndication is TweetConnect, which allows brands to tweet user-generated content on corporate Twitter pages. Each tweet is directly linked to a brand's purchase path in order to maximize sales opportunities. TweetConnect also ensures that shoppers' opinions are findable through Twitter search and real-time search results from Google.

SocialConnect Applications enable marketers to integrate consumer-generated content from a brand's Web site directly with their corporate presence on social networks so that customers can interact with this information wherever they consider "home," according to the press release. SocialConnect Applications also allow marketers to add Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews, Ask & Answer, and Stories capabilities to their Facebook fan pages. Consumers can submit content without leaving Facebook, and this content can be shared back to brand sites.

SocialConnect Friends helps consumers find reviews without ever leaving the brand site. Consumers are able to find the best product based on what their Facebook friends or their Twitter followers like.

Bazaarvoice has served more than 120 billion pieces of customer-generated content on more than 850 brand Web sites. The company markets its ability to connect organizations to their influencers by enabling authentic customer-powered marketing. The company provides syndication, analytics, partnerships, and consulting.

Seven billion social impressions are generated per month on the Bazaarvoice network.

News relevant to the customer relationship management industry is posted several times a day on destinationCRM.com, in addition to the news section Insight that appears every month in the pages of CRM magazine.

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